Wednesday, February 4, 2009

GERARDAMO: Game of the Week 4

Alright, in honor of Groundhog's Day, I've picked Clock Tower, for the SNES/PC, as my game of the week this week. Okay... Groundhog's Day has nothing to do with Clock Tower at all. Clock Tower is a pointin-n-clickin, survival horror, good time. I haven't played many survival horror games that aren't Silent Hill 3, but Clock Tower is easily the most terrifying game I have ever played... Period. (Maybe it's just because most games on the SNES seemed to scare me, nothing against the SNES, it's just the way the graphics are.)

You play as Jennifer, a poor orphan girl who nobody seems to love. You and your other girly friends are adopted by Mr. Barrows, who you never really meet. Kinda sketchy isn't it? You get sent away to his appropriately named Clock Tower. So, yeah, it's a point-and-click adventure. You click around to move, find clues, and not die. However, EVERYTHING in this game kills you. Not kidding. Walk up to a mirror, a hand pops out of it and strangles you. Oo! Pretty bird in a cage, walk up to it, and it flies out if its cage and pecks you to death. So, the genre of this game pretty much defines the story. No, not point-and-click... Survival horror. Just, don't die. You'll come across a few antagonists who all want to kill you. The one you'll encounter most often is the Scissorman. He's a small, midgit looking man who you later learn is just a nine-year-old. He chases you around with a giant pair of scissors, and, you guessed it, he tries to kill you! Everyone tries to kill you! Not much else to say about this game, but the video has commentary. I realize that it's kinda boring to watch because, well, there's nothing happening. But, this is the scariest I've played, because when you're the person playing, you have no idea what the hell is going to pop out and kill you. There were... 3 sequels, I think. The American versions have really different titles than the Japanese versions, so I'm still confused. There's also rumors that there will be a movie adaptation of this game, and I highly support any such thing, provided that it's actually a horror movie and not some torture porno. It definitely is one of the few games that could make good movies. (That and Indigo Prophecy)

Video by Couldagonemad88

I realize that these classic games aren't probably the most entertaining thing to read, but they aren't really meant to be informative reviews on what's good and bad about the game. Obviously, the games I choose are all going to be games that I enjoyed, and I'm not going to actually write a review about a 14-year-old game. Think of them more as reccomendations for games that I'd rather you people get your own opinions about since you may have missed them instead of me telling you that I really like them.

I thought so. I remember my days with ZSNES playing all those lame old games that were only fun for about fifteen minutes. Then I got a new computer and was too lazy to get the program again. I do miss the Gundam Wing fighting game though. That was fun, especially playing as Epyon. He was by far the best, and if you disagree, he'll step on you. And then he'll step on your house. And then he'll chop some building in half 'cause it's fun. Fuck I'm tired, why haven't I been sleeping?